There are books, magazines, comics, and the electronic versions of each. Books have never been more “at our fingertips.” During the holidays, when everyone was discussing their personal technology, the conversation turned to the subject of reading.

As you might expect, everyone still reads words on paper, but I also noted that everyone also reads words on electronic devices. And I do mean everyone. At one gathering I counted four tablet devices among thirteen people.

What were everyone’s favorite reading apps? Kindle, then Nook. Even though half of the tablets were iPads, neither were using iBooks. No one used Google Books.

No one was using a tablet for reading periodicals but a couple of people used apps such as Feedly, Pulse, and Newsr for reading news updates. One other app I like for reading blogs and on-line magazines is Stumblr. Stumblr’s strength is displaying visual blogs (like those on Tumblr but not only those) in a clean readable format.

From this unscientific survey I deduce that people are ready to digest text heavy books in the electronic form, but periodicals have yet to find either a universal visual format, or universal content form to convert readers to electronic forms.

Perhaps the most important tool for either paper or electronic based reading is light. You have to have the right light to enjoy reading, whether the light comes from a screen or a lamp.